1. She started inventing young.

At 12, the Long Island, New York, native tinkered with her family's toaster in an attempt to get it to roast as well as toast. "It kind of blew up," she told us in a recent interview. Then, while working at an animal hospital as a teenager, she thought up a fluorescent flea collar for cats and dogs to make them easily visible to cars at night. (When Hartz put a similar product on the market a year later, Mangano vowed to bring her next idea to the market first.)

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2. The billionaire once struggled to make ends meet.

In 1989, the divorced single mom waitressed nights and weekends and worked in airline reservations while her mother watched her three children. She even sold homemade grapevine wreaths to scratch together enough money.

3. Housework inspired her big break.

Mangano used her frustration with mopping to develop the product that would change her life — and millions of Americans'. In 1990, she borrowed money from family members and created a prototype of the Miracle Mop (which holds the Good Housekeeping Seal!). Her first production run of 100 were made in her father's auto-body shop.

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4. It didn't sell until she went TV.

After selling a few thousand mops in her first year, she took the product to QVC. "At first, it was demonstrated on TV without me," Mangano told 20/20. "And it didn't do so well. They wanted to return the mop." But she begged for a chance to sell it herself. "I got on stage and the phones went crazy and we sold out every last mop," Mangano added. She sold 18,000 in 20 minutes.

5. The Miracle Mop wasn't her biggest seller.

Her company, Ingenious Designs, has also produced a range of organizational products for jewelry, travel, baked goods and more — many now sold on HSN. Think: the Memory Cloud Pillow and My Little Steamer. But the blockbuster hit is Huggable Hangers, with 700 million sold to date. (They're HSN's number one seller and also have our GH Seal.) The soft, slim hangers were inspired by the velvety hangers she saw in a couture store.

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6. She keeps her ex-husband on the payroll.

Mangano keeps her large Italian-American family involved in the business — her three kids all work for her, too: Christie, 33, is senior VP of brand development, merchandising and marketing strategy, Bobby, 32, is a lawyer who oversees the company's business development and global strategies, and Jackie, 30, is a model regularly featured in HSN style segments. But she also hired her ex husband as a sales executive very early on, mostly to keep him involved with their children. "We're the best of friends," says Joy. "I can deal with Tony because I know he's a great friend, not a great husband."

Joy Mangano with her children (from left) Christie, Jackie, and Bobby at the film's December 13, 2015, NYC premiere.

GettyTaylor Hill/FilmMagic

7. She managed to have time to join the PTA.

The mogul mom even helped get one of New York's bike helmet laws passed. "I was also president of the PTA," she says. "We were the most lucrative PTA in the state!"

8. Her house has a name.

It pays to be the queen of HSN, and Mangano lives in a veritable palace: The 40,000 French country mansion on Long Island, Swan Manor, Vogue reports. She called the home "warming and welcoming, because that's the way I feel. I've stood up in front of America for 25 years and I wish I could bring everybody into my home that I have touched in my career. That would be an amazing thing."

9. Joy's favorite time to go on the air is midnight.

When she goes live in Tampa, Florida, at HSN's headquarters, it's typically at midnight — and she often tops $1 million in sales by 1 a.m. An onscreen tally clocks how many sets she's sold, which Mangano admits is addictive. "I get chills thinking about it," she told Vogue.

First, it was the Miracle Mop, she explains. "From the start, I was focused on getting the Good Housekeeping Seal," says Mangano. "I wanted to go on TV and tell everyone that the Miracle Mop had it. Now, I can proudly say 26 of my products have been approved!"

Joy Mangano and Good Housekeeping editor in chief Jane Francisco spoke at a Hearst Magazine event on October 27, 2015.